Page 43 of Instant Bond

It was furnished kind of minimally, but that was to be expected of a guy with no partner or kids. Everything was sleek and stylish and looked really expensive. He gave me a quick tour around the various rooms. The kitchen was so much roomier than the tiny one in my apartment, and all the appliances were immaculate and shiny. On the way to his bedroom, we passed by a totally empty room.

“What’s supposed to be in here?” I wondered. He glanced in briefly, but shook his head, pulling me away.

“We’ll talk about that later.”

I was totally confused by that, but was quickly distracted by the sight of his bedroom. His bed was huge, the biggest I’d ever seen. Instead of a headboard made of wood or iron, the head of the bed was framed by a cushioned wall. It looked like a page out of some fancy luxury magazine.

“Wow,” I commented. “I’ve never seen a bed like that.”

“I had it custom made,” he said, glancing over at me with a light smirk. “Sleep is important. Among other things.”

“You want to elaborate on any of those other things?” I asked, injecting mock innocence into my voice. It seemed like he didn’t.

I had expected him to pretty much jump my bones the second we were behind a closed door. There were so many surfaces he could have thrown me onto already, including his giant bed. I was happy to see his living space and get a better perspective on his personal life but my body was twitching with the insistence that I should have been getting laid.

I wondered if maybe he was just trying to have more of a traditional getting to know each other kind of date, since it was technically our first one. But part of me worried that maybe he just wasn’t as impatient to get to it as I was.

He put in an order for Chinese food, after asking me what I liked. While we waited for the delivery, he led me to the big leather sectional in his living room, perfectly positioned in front of a massive flat screen TV mounted to his wall.

“What kind of movie did you have in mind?” He asked, handing me the remote after clicking it on. The home screen showed that he had pretty much every streaming service known to mankind. No big surprise there.

“Um, I haven’t really thought about it,” I said honestly. I set the remote aside and crawled into his lap, straddling his thighs like I had before so our faces were perfectly aligned. “I can’t really think about anything but you right now.”

When I leaned in to kiss him, he brought his palms up, gently easing me back. I literally felt my lips morph into a pout as his rejection stung me.

“You don’t want to…” I trailed off, embarrassed. “I mean, you don’t want me?”

“Of course I do,” he said, shaking his head in denial. “You never need to ask that.”

“Then why are you pushing me away?”

“I… We need to talk.”

For the first time, I heard the absolute confidence that was generally present in his voice waver. When I looked into his eyes, they were unsure.

“Are you nervous?” I blurted out in shock, instantly regretting it when he visibly winced. But yet I couldn’t seem to stop the words from pouring out of my mouth. “It’s not about the sex or anything, right? I mean I know I was in heat the last time and everything but still I’m pretty sure you don’t have anything to worry about.”

He stared at me for a few seconds, the corner of his mouth twitching into an awkward grin. “It’s not about sex.”

“Oh. Sorry. What is it?” It was interesting and intriguing to see Karter Morrison showing his human side, but I hated the idea that he was struggling with something that had to do with me. Whatever it was, I wanted to relieve him of it.

He took a deep breath, like he was preparing for a speech. “I know we’ve only known each other for a month.”

“It’s actually been three and a half weeks,” I corrected him. It was odd saying it out loud, considering he’d become such an important part of my life in practically no time at all.

“A month rounded up,” he said, giving me a dry look.

“Sorry.”

“And I know a month is nothing in terms of getting to know someone. But it doesn’t feel like I’ve known you for a month. You’re so important to me already,” he added, echoing my thoughts.

Hearing that he felt the same way I did brought out a rush of emotion, and I couldn’t help but lean forward and kiss him. He didn’t push me away this time, bringing his hands up to lightly grip my waist, holding my body against him as our lips moved together.

“I want you to forget that it’s only been a month, and forget that it’s crazy by anyone else’s standards, and just think about how I make you feel and what’s happened between us.”

“Okay,” I agreed softly, my stomach shivering with anxiety. An insane and slightly terrifying thought suddenly popped into my head. I felt it flying toward my mouth and tried to stop it, but my filter seemed to be malfunctioning today. “You’re not proposing to me, are you?”

He squeezed his eyes shut and let out a whoosh of breath before opening them back up to kind of glare at me. “If I was, your horrified tone wouldn’t be very encouraging.”

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